Social Housing - Managing Rent Arrears

Managing rent arrears and antisocial behaviour are two key housing management issues that continue to pose significant challenges for local authorities and housing bodies. Whilst there is no silver bullet, strategies, policies and procedures should be driven by an organisational culture that emphasises prevention and early intervention rather than relying on lengthy and time-consuming legal action.

This interactive, one-day training course will give you information on best practice in these areas. Participants will benefit from facilitated group work in order to share and generate ideas. The sessions will focus on strategies and actions aimed at prevention as well as looking at the importance of the early - and appropriate – response to tenancy breaches.

At the end of the course, attendees will be able to devise effective plans for both rent arrears and anti-social behaviour. Attendees will receive a full informative course pack to refer back to.

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Course Content

• MANAGING RENT ARREARS

This practical, interactive workshop focuses on how social housing landlords can maximise their rent income collection, minimise arrears and increase tenancy sustainability.

• Pre-tenancy work – how to use the time before a tenancy starts to assess and mitigate the risk of non-payment of rent, increasing the likelihood of the tenancy being sustained
• Good practice in rent collection and arrears prevention:
• How to make payment easy
• Differentiating between “can’t pay/won’t pay”
• Early intervention
• Clear communication
• Setting up affordable agreements
• Following through with actions - breaking the cycle of non-payment
• Legal action and eviction - last resort
• Generic -v- specialist teams
• Use of data to measure performance
• Good record keeping
• Use of IT

Group activities to enable participants to come away with concrete ideas about how to increase rent collection and minimise rent arrears at their organisation

• ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
• The principles of developing an effective ASB strategy
• The difference between a strategy, policy and procedure
• Reflecting the operating context
• Agreed definitions of what is and is not classed as ASB
• ASB categorisation
• Structure of service provision
• Success measures
• Putting the strategy into action - the key components of an effective ASB approach:
• Prevention activity
• -Early intervention
• -Support
• Enforcement
• ASB case management - good practice
• Evidence gathering
• Maintaining contact with interested parties
• Regular review of ASB action plan
• Review and assessment of the effectiveness of actions/approach taken to resolve the ASB
• Providing support to victim and alleged perpetrator (where applicable)
• Multi-agency approach
• Agreed protocols for case closure
• Updating ASB case management system

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Who Should Attend?

Housing Bodies, Local Authorities, Charities, Government Departments and any organisation who deals with rent arrears or anti-social behaviour issues.

Certification

On completion of this one-day training course, you will receive your CMG MasterClass Certificate of Attendance. Please note certificates are issued at the close of the training course to participants on completion of the course. You will also receive a full course pack to refer back to at any time in the future. Please check directly with your association or awarding body to see how many points they will award.

Cost

An ‘Early Bird’ discounted rate of €425 is currently available. This training course normal rate is €495. Places are limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis. PLEASE NOTE THE EARLY BIRD RATE CLOSES 3 WEEKS PRIOR TO COURSE DATE The course cost includes all course documentation and Certificates.

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